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It is not a good one. The UN expert on assembly and association, Maina Kiai, recognises this, and has dedicated his final report to the UN promoting how civil society participation has improved societies globally. He invites human rights organisations to give input to this report, with an extended deadline of 15 February.

From 12 February, people from 80 countries will be able to travel to Belarus without a visa, for five days at a time. While some may start planning their vacations, Belarusian human rights defenders look at what this means for civil society.

On 4 January, Magomed Daudov, the speaker of the Chechen Parliament, posted on Instagram an image of a dog with its tongue tied in an apparent threatening caricature of Caucasian Knot editor-in-chief Grigory Shvedov. HRHF calls on the the local and Russian Federal authorities to condemn the threat.

Video blogger and chairperson of the Institute for Reporters` Freedom and Safety (IRFS), Mehman Huseynov, was pushed into a vehicle in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 9 January. He was arrested by police agents on administrative charges of resisting police. Updated: Mehman Huseynov has been released.

“There is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the Situation of Georgia in relation to alleged crimes committed in the context of the August 2008 armed conflict,” Fatou Bensuda, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, stated in The Hague on October 13, 2015. The Prosecutor officially requested authorization to the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the Court to open an investigation into the August war. The Justices of the Court satisfied her solicitation on January 27, 2016 and the investigation was commenced.

The second international conference “Abolition of the death penalty and public opinion” opened on 13 December in Minsk. The conference is organized by the Council of Europe in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.

13 снежня ў Мінску распачалася другая міжнародная канферэнцыя “Адмена смяротнага пакарання і грамадскае меркаванне”, якую арганізуе Савет Еўропы ў супрацоўніцтве з Міністэрствам замежных спраў Беларусі.

The human rights situation in Crimea will now be examined by the international community gathered in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

A single diversion from democratic principles does not necessarily make a Government authoritarian, but what about a year of continually undermining democratic principles? To understand events in Poland, one must not just judge individual incidents, as is often the case in human rights work, but instead look at the way the different legislative changes come together and the picture this combination creates.